Keg Trike

I had a bunch of parts laying around the garage that needed to either be sold or put to use and because I sold my other custom trike I figured I would build another. Since I'm using the rear end from a production trike I guess this doesn't belong in the scratch built collection... so many shades of grey! Anyway, started with a keg gas tank and a tractor seat I picked up at a swap meet. Picked up an off brand trike from CL and pulled an old rock shox fork and a 3 speed CB hub out of the stash to get started. Thinking about taking this to Tour De Fat in Tempe this year if I finish it in time...

The entire front end is going to the parts pile... i figure that all I need to do to get it back on the road is build a rear triangle!

the use full bits... including nice chrome 24" wheels waiting for 24x3 tires!

The direction I'm planning to go. Tank is going to be all integrated sheet steel. Want to try some crazy paint this time.

Very cool! I am looking forward to following your build.
I like the keg (look at my BEER RUN build).
I like the chopper trike idea. I want to marry the back end of a 70s WF Trike that I have to a modern Nirve Clutch kids chopper frame. I also want to mount Harley tires on two OCC StingRay Chopper rims (see my Fugsley build) for my back wheels. I would like to figure out how to use an old SA 3speed hub as well, so that I can make a cool stick shift.

Decided to work in a girder fork to this build. Started to tack the fork legs together and get my pivot points worked out. Have to go buy welding gas tomorrow for all the welders before I can continue. Also on the list for tomorrow is the steel tubing for the frame. The last thing I picked up is a piece of an old leaf spring to cut down and use to mount the tractor seat. More updates tomorrow.

Bought steel tubing and welding gas today but when I got home I didn't have enough room to work in the garage. The remainder of the day was spent cleaning the garage and making room for me to work. I did have a chance to play around with the rake and trail calculations... these were done with the aid of the driveway lines. I moved things around until I got everything right where I wanted it. Measurements were then taken of the angle and the height of the steer tube so I could replicate this on the jig.

At the hardware store I took measurements of some coolers to see if I would be able to fit one in the keg... have to make that space usefull. the only question now is if I can fit a 12 pack or a 30 pack of cans!

Last a little teaser of the paint! I'm messing around with some classic paint styles for this frame. Lace paint work with metal flake is going to be so much fun to lay out. Here is a piece of cardboard that I did my experimenting on.

Bulk of the frame fabrication is finished... Still need to weld on the side panels of the tank and clean up the frame. Worked with the spring steel and cut it down to size but it had no flex with my body weight on it. Instead I'm going to hinge and spring the seat. I'm also dropping the tank down as far as I can.

Broke open the Sturmey Archer S3C. It's a coaster brake 3 speed and didn't seem to be catching when I was playing with it just in my hand. when I got it open I found that 4 of the 6 pawl springs were broken... that explains why it wasn't grabbing! Thank goodness for Harris Cyclery! Ordered a bunch of spare SA parts that I had been putting off buying and went ahead and paid the $25 for the 2 day shipping. That should give me enough time to finish this for Tour De Fat on the 15th.

I'm still working on final welding on the frame and getting the cooler installed into the keg so I'll post pictures when there is significant visual progress. These builds for certain events always seem to come down to the last minute. More times than I like to recount I have shown up to and even either with paint still drying to having to adjust or mount one last thing. I think this build is going to be no different... I just hope the paint is dry! Last Tour De Fat the paint still smelled when I walked it into the show. :roll: